culture
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Hope He Had Insurance: Dude Has Finger Bitten Off at Health Care Rally
A California man is minus a finger after a scrap at a health care rally. From NewsOne: An estimated 100 supporters of healthcare reform affiliated with MoveOn.org had gathered as part of a nationwide array of pre-Labor Day rallies to attract attention in support of Obama’s reform plans currently before Congress. Instead, the rally attracted…
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Finally: Michael Jackson Interred at Forest Lawn
It’s been ten weeks since Michael Jackson passed away in California, and on Thursday evening, the King of Pop found his final resting place at Forest Lawn cemetery. From CNN: Thursday’s service began 90 minutes past the announced start time, leaving dozens of celebrities — including Elizabeth Taylor — waiting in their seats for the…
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Memo to Black Women: Get Real!
I sympathize with black women because it’s true that 71 percent of black grad students are female and that they outnumber black men in the general population 7 to 1. But maybe you’ve heard the one about successful black women being unable to find suitable black mates is not about ineligible men. And if you…
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How the Yankees Ruined Baseball
It’s early in the month, but it seems fair to say, “so much for September.” No disrespect to the mythmaking October plays that loom large in baseball lore, but September is prime time for baseball’s most dramatic moments. It’s the time of year when teams that have been competing day in and day out for…
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Fly Like an Eagle: Vick Eligible to Play Week 3
After a meeting in New Jersey with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, it was decided Michael Vick would be eligible to take part in professional American football contests as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. From ESPN: The Eagles play the New York Jets in their final preseason game Thursday night at the Meadowlands. Eagles coach…
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VIDEO: Football Player Tackles Gun-Wielding Girl, Saves Students
From NewsOne: YAZOO CITY, Miss. – Authorities say a high school football player in Mississippi tackled a girl who pulled out a gun on a school bus and took the weapon away from her. Sheriff Tommy Vaughan says the 14-year-old girl pulled a semiautomatic handgun out of her flower-print bag after boarding the bus Tuesday…
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Spelman Student Killed by Stray Bullet
A sad day for Spelman. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A Spelman College student was shot and killed early Thursday on the campus of nearby Clark Atlanta University. The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. in the 200 block of James P. Brawley Drive, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office. The victim, Jasmine Lynn, of…
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Ex-Inmate Attempts to Break Into Jail, Fails
A gem from the AP: Barbed Wire – 1; Sylvester Jiles – 0 The Florida man, who recently copped a plea deal in a manslaughter case, suffered severe cuts trying to scale the 12-foot fence at Brevard County Detention Center on Monday. Why? Because he feared revenge from family members of his victim. He expressed…
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Michael’s Milk of Amnesia
The King of Pop is gone—that spectacular, superhuman figure from the 1993 Super Bowl performance, arms outstretched, white shirt fluttering like a flag, black hair against a pale face. Or that chocolate-skinned, full-nosed Michael, all sex and androgyny at the same time in that white suit on the cover of Thriller, the first album I…
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Whitney Houston: Call It a Comeback
In 1985, Whitney Houston made her MTV-ready debut, the latest product spit-shined to perfection by legendary hitmaker Clive Davis. Back then, it was hard to match the glamour quotient—and she made for great copy: She was polished, pristine, the scion of entertainment royalty, possessing a squeaky-clean rep and cover-girl looks. Dubbed “The Voice,” her vocals…